Pyro

The Pyro is a class who wields a Flamethrower as its primary weapon. Along with the ability to inflict burn damage and a relatively high damage output, the Pyro also has the airblast mechanic, which can neutralize an enemy's über with ease, reflect projectiles like rockets and arrows, and extinguish burning team mates.

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In 6v6, the Pyro is considered an offclass. Most commonly run when the defending team has über disadvantage while defending last, the Pyro's job is to neutralize the enemy team's über and projectile spam from the Soldier and Demo through the use of the airblast mechanic. This situational use of the class allows the defending team to counter the enemy team when in disadvantage, against über it allows the team to gain precious time, often enough for the team to get über in time to defend last even counter-push if the Pyro manages to hold the whole über back. It has been tried and experimented through the years as a full time competitive class and while it is encouraged in some competitive gamemodes it doesn't work in 6v6 because of the lack of mobility and low damage output of this class.

In Highlander, the Pyro is considered a support class. The Pyro's main job in Highlander is to protect the Medic. It also has the job of displacing and neutralizing enemy übers, spychecking to neutralize the enemy Spy, protecting its team's sentry gun by deflecting projectiles and providing flank support when required. The Pyro most commonly positions himself around the combo, so as to allow them to deal a lot of damage to the enemy team's damage dealing classes like Heavy or Demoman, without having to focus on classes like Spies or Scouts. This allows for the rest of your team to co-ordinate a push. Alternatively, if a Pyro's team is aware enough of the enemy Spy, then the Pyro could take the role of a roaming Pyro. This involves the Pyro flanking the enemy team and trying to deal a lot of damage, possibly to get a pick on the Medic, which could then allow their team to push in.

The Flamethrower provides better upfront damage than the Degreaser as well as possessing a relatively cheap airblast in comparison to the Backburner and, although by no means a bad weapon, lacks either the ambushing potential from the Backburner as well as the weapon switching bonus of the Degreaser, which can often be invaluable. Since either of the allowed alternatives have an offensive focus (through different means) that means the stock Flamethrower will generally be used with a more passive play-style in mind, and often without tangible upsides in relation to the alternatives.

The Backburner is a weapon made with ambushing and flanking in mind and is rarely used in 6's. Since the Pyro generally has responsibilities to either the Medic or the Engineer in Highlander, it requires a significant change to the team's overall strategy to be used effectively and is therefore rarely used in that format as well. The Backburner's unique ability allows it to critically hit an enemy from behind (approximately 90 degrees) allowing the Pyro to quickly kill an unaware opponent. This comes at the price of diminished support capabilities since the Pyro will only be able to use four airblasts with full ammunition and this greatly hinders the most powerful support tools in the Pyro's arsenal.

The Degreaser is the most widely used flame thrower in competitive. The weapon provides the Pyro with faster weapon switching which makes using weapon combos (such as the Flare Gun or the Axtinguisher ) far easier and allows the Pyro to handle combat situations that would otherwise be quite difficult to handle. The Degreaser's downsides come from the weapon's reduced damage upfront and weakened afterburn in relation to the stock flamethrower. This rarely affects the Pyro, still, given that the class' objectives in most competitive scenarios are to either stall the enemy or support his own team rather than actively getting kills.

The Phlogistinator is a unique Pyro weapon that exchanges the Pyro's ability to airblast with the ability to get crits on will. The lack of a compression blast severely hinders the Pyro's support functions, but its sheer killing power from its crits have led it to be banned in most leagues.

The Shotgun is a default Pyro Weapon. It is identical to the Engineer's, Heavy's or Soldier's. It is a hitscan weapon and has 6 ammo in it's clip alongside 32 additional ammo carried. For the Pyro, the Shotgun can be used in situations where the flamethrower wouldn't be as practical or useful. The Shotgun deals respectable damage at close-range and gives the Pyro decent abilities at mid-range. Even through it's damage long-range is fairly negligible it allows the Pyro to harass enemies from a distance and support his teammates on occasion.

The Flare Gun allows the Pyro to harass and even pick off targets at long-range. The Flare Gun's abilities allow the Pyro to light enemies from a distance (dealing 30 damage plus the afterburn) and it also crits on enemies that are already on fire (dealing 90 damage) without being affected by range. Just like the other flare guns, the regular Flare Gun is a projectile weapon and one has to predict the enemy's movement to use it effectively.

The Detonator provides a useful boost to mobility as well as the ability to light entire groups of enemies on fire from great distances by detonating the projectile but loses the critical hit from the regular flare gun (the Detonator mini-crits on burning targets instead) and the projectile also harms the player. The Detonator is mostly useful to harass enemies and also, in situations where the Pyro may benefit from added mobility by using the Detonator's explosion knockback. The Detonator's explosion can also destroy enemy stickies allowing the Pyro to dismantle sticky traps without much danger.

The Reserve Shooter is not as common as the most popular secondaries for the Pyro. The weapon provides both an extra boost in weapon switch speed (that stacks with the Degreaser's) and mini-crits airborne targets but only holds 4 shots in comparison with the regular shotgun. The Reserve Shooter is especially useful for a Pyro that can make the most out of the weapon switching boost and the Pyro's airblast to ensure massive up-close damage which allows the Pyro to become quite effective in 1v1 situations.

The Manmelter is rarely used since it has little going for it in most situations. Flare Gun ammunition is rarely cause for much concern and even with the extra projectile speed and crit on extinguish condition the Pyro loses a lot on burst damage as well as firing speed.

The Scorch Shot inherits some key traits from the Detonator such as destroying stickies, having the ability to light groups of enemies on fire and allowing the Pyro to use it's knock-back and diminished damage to add a bit of mobility. However, the Scorch Shot deals 50% less damage when compared to the regular flare gun and does not crit (or mini-crit) on burning targets, which significantly decreases the Pyro's offensive capabilities. As a result, this weapon is rarely used in competitive play, though some occasionally use its high detonation radius as a spy-checking tool.

The Panic Attack is a community-created primary weapon for the Engineer, and a secondary weapon for the Soldier, Pyro, and Heavy.

The Panic Attack starts with 0 rounds in its magazine. Upon pressing and holding down primary fire, the player will begin loading shells into the magazine port, and will continue to do so as long as primary fire is held down. Upon releasing, the player will fire all shots one-by-one. Up to four shells can be loaded and fired in this fashion. The Panic Attack will automatically fire all the shots in the barrel if the player attempts to load in more than 4 shells. Compared to the stock Shotgun, the weapon loads 50% faster and increases speed switch by 50%. In addition, as the user's health decreases, the weapon's firing rate and spread both increase, firing faster shots at lower accuracy when at low health.

The Axtinguisher is a more aggressive weapon for the Pyro. It allows you to crit a burning enemy from the back which will deal 195 damage. However, hitting a burning enemy from the front will minicrit and deal 88 damage. This weapon is useful for getting picks on the enemy Medic, if possible. The Axtinguisher is used sparingly, due to how easily countered it is at higher skill levels.

The Homewrecker will do 100% more damage to enemy buildings compared to the stock Fire Axe, destroying most in 1 or 2 hits. This weapon can also remove sappers in one hit. This weapon isn't very useful when facing enemy sentries, it's mainly used to defend sentry nests against enemy Spies.

The Powerjack when active will allow you to run 15% faster, but all damage taken will do 20% more. If you kill an enemy with this melee you gain +25 health. It is generally considered to be the only other viable melee besides the Axtinguisher as the faster speed and health can allow the Pyro to maintain a roaming playstyle.

The Back Scratcher does 25% more damage that the default axe. It also allows the Pyro to gain 50% more health from health packs, but he will heal 75% slower from Medics or Dispensers. This weapon is more useful if you plan on flanking the opponent and stealing all their health packs or if you want to help the Medic build ÜberCharge, since it will take a longer time to fully heal the Pyro. It will most likely hurt your team since you'll always have to look for health packs instead of just sticking to your Medic.

The Sharpened Volcano Fragment deals 20% less damage than the default axe, but it will ignite the enemy on hit. This weapon is considered unnecessary due to the fact that your primary already sets players on fire thus this weapon isn't used very much. It is useful when the pyro runs out of ammo for the flamethrower.

The Third Degree deals the same damage as the default weapon, but it will do damage to all players connected by the Medigun's beam. It is very rare for the Pyro to manage to get close to the combo and use this weapon, therefore, most players prefer to use the Axtinguisher for the high amount of burst damage it provides when the opportunity arises, which makes the Third Degree barely used in the competitive scene.

The Neon Annihilator can remove sappers on friendly buildings, but it will take two swings to remove a sapper. It deal crits to wet players, this includes being covered in water, being covered in Jarate, and being covered in Mad Milk. It does 20% less damage to players, so a crit on a player will deal 156 damage. This weapon is highly situational, therefore it doesn't see much use in competitive play.